Contents

Description

The game is set on a spaceship viewed from a top-down perspective.
The ship consists of numerous rooms and levels, each one populated
by hostile robots or "droids". The player, in control of
a special droid called the "Influence Device", must destroy all the
other droids on the ship. Each droid (including the player) is
represented as a circle around a three-digit number. The numbers
roughly correspond to the droid's "power" or "level", in that
higher-numbered droids are tougher to destroy.

The Influence Device is numbered "001". The primary way in which
the Influence Device destroys other droids is by "linking" with
them, effectively taking them over. When the player takes over
another droid, the previously-controlled droid is destroyed.

Taking over a droid is done via a mini-game involving basic circuit
diagrams and logic gates. Each droid has one side of the
screen, with a series of logic gates and circuits connected
together. The droids have a number of "power supplies" that can
apply power to one circuit. Higher-numbered droids have more power
supplies. At the end of a short time period, the droid supplying
the most power to the circuit "wins". The logic gates are the key
to allowing lower-numbered droids to beat higher-numbered droids.
There is also a strategy in timing when power is applied to a
circuit (as two supplies of power to the same circuit result in the
later supplier of power gaining control of the circuit).

In either case, the droid being controlled by the player is
destroyed. If the player beats the droid in this mini-game, he
takes control of that droid. If not, either the droid is destroyed
and the player returned to the game as just the Influence Device
(if he was previously controlling a different droid), or the player
is killed, ending the game, if he was not already controlling
another droid before the takeover attempt.

While in control of another droid, the player effectively acts
as that droid, meaning the player has access to that droid's
maneuverability, armor, weapons and "power supplies" (used during
the droid-control mini-game). If the droid has weapons, the player
can destroy other droids simply by shooting them, instead of taking
them over (though higher-numbered droids can require several shots
to destroy, and might actually fire back). The player only has
control of a droid for a limited amount of time (which is inversely
proportional to the droid's number). If that time elapses, the
controlled droid is destroyed and the player reverts back to the
Influence Device (001).

The spaceship has several decks, and each deck can have several
rooms. Doors and elevators connect the rooms and the decks. Many
rooms have computer terminals that provide access to maps of the
current deck and the entire ship as well as droid information. Each
droid can access information about itself and all lower-numbered
droids (this access is available to the player based on the droid
being controlled).

Goals and
Challenges

As well as achieving a high score, Paradroid players also see
certain achievements as worthy. Clearing one or more ships entirely
of robots is one such goal. Another is a successful transfer from
the 001 Influence Device to the unstable 999 droid.

Despite the instructions referring to a finite fleet, the
Commodore 64 game never ends: when you clear the eighth ship called
"Itsnotardenuff", you're just replaced back on the ship, with
higher-ranking droids on each deck.

Quazatron

Andrew Braybrook's Graftgold partner, Steve Turner, wrote a
version of Paradroid for the ZX Spectrum called Quazatron. It was also
published by Hewson, and retained the same gameplay but on an isometric playing field.

Paradroid, originally for Commodore 64, is a computer game written by
Andrew Braybrook and published by Hewson in 1985. It was also released, as
Paradroid 90, for the Amiga and Atari ST home computers
and as Paradroid 2000 for the Acorn Archimedes. There exist several
fan-made remakes for modern PCs. In 2004 the Commodore 64 version was
re-released as a built-in game on the C64 Direct-to-TV, and in 2008 for the Wii Virtual Console in Europe.

The game is set on a spaceship viewed from a top-down
perspective. The ship consists of numerous rooms and levels, each
one populated by hostile robots or "droids." The player, in control
of a special droid called the "Influence Device," must destroy all
the other droids on the ship. Each droid (including the player) is
represented as a circle around a three-digit number. The numbers
roughly correspond to the droid's "power" or "level," in that
higher-numbered droids are tougher to destroy.